The invention is directed to an enossal single tooth implant for a firmly seated dental prosthesis, having an essentially cylindrical base member introducible into a bore introduced into a jaw bone, said base member comprising a blind bore open toward its coronal or outer end, having a spacer sleeve emplaceable on the coronal or outer face edge of the base member, an implant post introducible into the blind bore and connectable to the base member, said implant post penetrating an inside bore of the spacer sleeve, which has a connecting means for the twist-resistant fastening of the spacer sleeve on the base member and a fastening head for the dental prosthesis.
German Patent Application 195 09 762.9-32 discloses the improvement of a dental implant according to German Letters Patent 40 28 855, whereby the implant post, which also serves therein as retainer screw for the spacer sleeve relative to the base member, comprises the fastening head for the firmly seated dental prosthesis at its coronal end, said fastening head projecting beyond the spacer sleeve. For example, the dental prosthesis is either glued to the fastening head or is connected thereto by cementing.
When the species-defining single tooth implant of German Patent Application 195 09 762.9-32 is modified to the effect that the implant post ends coronally at a distance from the coronal face edge within the inside bore of the spacer sleeve, whereby the coronal end region of the spacer sleeve itself then forms the fastening head for the dental prosthesis, then the dental prosthesis can in fact likewise be attached to the spacer sleeve with a glued or cemented connection. However, there are difficulties in securing the framing or structure of the dental prosthesis with a securing screw that preferably proceeds perpendicular to the longitudinal center axis of the spacer sleeve in those applications wherein a screwed connection is desired between the framing of the dental prosthesis and the fastening head.
This difficulty is based on the fact that the circumferential wall of the spacer sleeve is so thin that the required forces for fastening the dental prosthesis cannot be exerted with a securing screw of the above-described type without inappropriate deformation of the spacer sleeve walls.